Author chats about her gender-bending 19th century Cape novel

Sunday

Dec 14, 2014 at 11:57 PMDec 14, 2014 at 11:57 PM

Historical fiction explores the role of women as rescuers and mariners on 19th century Cape Cod

By Lauren DaleyContributing Writer

Sarah Anne Johnson's “The Lightkeeper’s Wife,” a historical novel, set on 19th century Cape Cod, will leave you with so much to discuss and think about, you’ll have to bring extra lemon squares to your next club meeting.

And luckily, Johnson, who lives in Provincetown, Skypes with book clubs. Just contact her through her website, at the end of this column.

Protagonist Hannah Snow shouldn't even be in the water. Her husband, John, would be furious; it’s his job to tend to Dangerfield Light. Lightkeeping is dangerous, grueling work — certainly not women’s work. But when John goes missing, Hannah is forced to fill in, and risks her life to save Billy Pike. Hannah invites Billy to stay as a hired hand-but soon discovers that Billy isn’t who she thought he was…

Meanwhile, there’s the intertwining story of “Blue,” a whaling captain’s wife who disguises herself as a man to become a whaler aboard a ship. And yes, there are many references to Cape Cod towns.

There’s so much to discuss here — the tip of the iceberg being women’s roles in the 19th century and what constitutes “women’s work” or “men’s work."

I caught up with Johnson recently.

Q: First of all, I loved your book. This is a great debut novel. What sparked the idea for it?

A: Thank you! I got the idea when I walked into the Highland House Museum in Truro and saw a print of Grace Darling, a lightkeeper's daughter in the 1800s. She was rowing into a storm to save a shipwrecked sailor. Her dress flapped in the wind. Her hair trailed behind her as she looked over her shoulder toward the wreck.

As a girl growing up on Cape Cod and spending a lot of time in boats, I'd never had a woman hero to identify with, and now here she was, a real woman of daring and skill. Her image resonated with me and I at once felt a feeling of loss and of excitement. I wanted to write about a character like her.

Q: There's a lot of gender-bending, and traditional role reversal here. Have you always been interested in gender as a subject? Did you set out to look at issues of gender role and reversals when you started the book?

A: I didn't know that I was writing about gender until I got deep into the narrative. Hannah grew organically into her role as the lightkeeper, bucking convention by taking care of the lights and rowing into storms. …Once I dressed Blue as a man, I felt that I'd struck the nerve of the book and I understood that the book was about gender in its many manifestations.

Q: Why set the story at Dangerfield lighthouse?

A: Truro was called Dangerfield before the 1790s when the name was changed to be more welcoming. I wanted to set the book in a fictional town so that I could take some poetic license and the name Dangerfield worked because I used a setting similar to Truro, but I veered slightly from the factual history and geography.

Q: How did you research the novel? Were those ships real or based on real crashes?

A: …I found other books and stories about women who took over care of the lighthouse for a disabled or deceased husband or father. What interested me was the fact that women were more likely to row into a storm out of their sense of empathy for the shipwrecked sailor, while men were more likely to see to their practical duties in maintaining the lights… I also researched women's maritime history and came across women pirates. I had to explore what would make a women go to such extremes.

Q: Is Hannah based on anyone you know?

A: Hannah is the hero I've always wanted, and the hero I've always wanted to be.

Q: Tell us a little about yourself.

A: I grew up on Cape Cod, and I currently live in Provincetown. I love it here. I grew up sailing in a family that's very nautical and interested in maritime arts and antiquities, so my knowledge of the sea and of boats came early. I didn't read a lot until I was in my 20s and took a class in women in literature. That's when I started to read novels that I could identify with.

Lauren Daley is a freelance writer. Contact her at ldaley33@gmail.com. Follow her on Twitter @laurendaley1.